Department of Basic Composition

The Basic Composition Program understands that all students bring with them rich and
diverse histories, knowledge, skills, and literacies that can be applied to the literacy
work they will take part in as college students at UVU. We are committed to providing
opportunities for students to recognize their own oral, written, and visual literacies
as relevant to the academic setting and to helping them develop these literacies for
the work they will do in the academy, in the workplace, and in their personal lives.

English 0890 and English 0990 are offered as online, hybrid, and multi-day hybrid
courses. These are courses in Rhetoric and Composition: both courses emphasize writing
processes and take a rhetorical approach to writing--underscoring the significant
role that context plays in shaping writing.

Courses

ENGH 0890

COURSE DESCRIPTION

ENGH 0890 course is designed to broaden students’ understanding of what it means to
read for and write i the university. This course addresses a broad spectrum of writing activities
relevant to the first year experience. This course familiarizes students with writing
and reading from across the curriculum. A primary goal of this course is for students
to gain confidence in writing in a variety of genres common to the university, including
but not limited to essays, reports, emails, as well as multimedia and web related
documents. English 0890 is a five credit nontransferable course. This course does
not transfer to other institutions of higher education; however, the grade students
receive for this course does count towards their GPA.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Students will

Draw on previous experience, knowledge, and skill to meet the challenges of writing
in the academy;

Understand and use rhetorical strategies to identify and make informed choices about
writing within multiple contexts and for a variety of audiences;

Make connections and distinguish between personal reflection and public writing;

Demonstrate an understanding of the recursive nature of the writing process and its
parts, prewriting, drafting, revision, and editing;

Compose in electronic environments and use technologies associated with writing in
the university;

Demonstrate familiarity with genres of writing common to the university;

Apply Standard Written English grammatical/usage when appropriate to meet the needs
of an identified audience, understanding both its application and limitations;

Compile a portfolio to show progress and a facility for writing in a variety of modes
and genres and for specific audience and purposes.

ENGH 0990

COURSE DESCRIPTION

English 0990 is designed to help students learn new ways to write and to improve their
writing in part by understanding better the rhetorical nature of writing. In this
course students will read and write in genres common to the academy; however, this
is not strictly a “how-to” for academic writing. Rather, this course is built around
the assumption that "good writing" is determined by the circumstance, i.e., audience,
purpose, medium and genre. English 0990 provides space for students to experiment
and take risks with their writing through projects. Students enrolling in English
0990 will want to be ready to re-think, re-see, and re-imagine writing as they know
it. English 0990 is a five-credit, non-transferable course. While this course does
not transfer to other institutions of higher education, he grade they receive for
this course does count towards their GPA.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Students will

Recognize and identify rhetorical strategies used by writers for a variety of purposes
and use these strategies in their own work.

Demonstrate an ability to express clear objectives and use language effectively to
identify and accomplish a particular purpose in writing and speech.

Understand and use a rhetorical vocabulary to identify and make informed choices about
writing within multiple contexts and for a variety of audiences.

Apply Standard English grammatical/usage when appropriate to meet the needs of an
identified audience.

Demonstrate familiarity with and ability to locate online resources and use scholarly
work to summarize, analyze, and support claims ethically and soundly for a variety
of audiences, academic and otherwise.

Develop the ability to evaluate the credibility of an online source within the context
of a particular project and for an identified audience.

Use a word processor to format both traditional and non-traditional texts, including
but not limited to blogs, e-mails, interview protocols, proposals, timelines, as well
as traditional academic essays requiring MLA or APA formatting.

Demonstrate the ability to reference a variety of readings in service to accomplishing
a clearly identified purpose in their writing.

Demonstrate the ability to discern the appropriate use of others’ work and hone the
skills needed to “recycle” others’ work, for example, to recognize the difference
between summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and plagiarizing.

Engaged Learning

The department actively promotes student writing for publication consideration and
supports composition efforts across campus by collaborating with ENGL 1010/2010, the
Writing Center, and Writing in the Disciplines. Writing Center tutors are currently
piloting tutoring sessions in basic writing courses.